Feathers and Fins

I have some Snow Jerky right now combine with sausage and some beautiful roasting breast Im a happy camper. The biggest key to snows is simple cleaning, most the guys who say they are bad keep them multiple day hunts without cleaning or when they do are throwing cleaned birds on guts, When I clean them its a fillet and then in a bowl of salt water until ive got them all done then a good sink cleaning. After that vacum seal them and freeze. My problem is I normally am eating or making jerky the next day or two after

Squid,

Well it looks like tomorrow and thurs is going to be a nightmare be safe out there. Wonder what this will do to the classic

They are better than Honker and just slightly less than Speck. in other words YES i like eating them. they got a bad name from either someone who knows how good they are or someone who doesnt know how to cook.

LOL honker is closed Whitey is in the CO and they would have been waterswatted, actually though at first they were gulls then when i got close i started cussing myself out. If I go this weekend the bangstick and the extended tube will be on the boat just in case First time in a few years i saw snows actually roosting on the lake and dumb things let me get to within 20yrds a group of about 500 and at that range I could have helped conserve to Tundra nicely.

These are all from the last year on Beaver. Keep in mind when looking at the pics the spinning rod is a shimano PS76MLF and to the front grip is 15'' The casting rod is a St Croix PM80MHF THE HANDLE TO FRONT IS 24'' Beaver has some very nice quality Smallies and I might need to start getting more serious about targeting them

2.1 to 2.3 mph when im bumping shallow water 6 to 15 fow, 20+ fow the sweet spot seems to be 1.8 to 2.0. Side note; I am kicking myself in the rear for not having the shotgun Sunday, I ran into several groups of whitey that let me get closer than the dark ones do grrrrr

Thats from the IGFA but wasnt a larger one caught and then dqed by the IGFA director because this one measured longer ? I remember hearing a story like that a few years back

I've enjoyed this thread but one thing keeps standing out to me. The calibur of guys on this site that fish for smallies and bass in general has to be some of the best I have come across. That being said it is very obvious that anything over 18 should be thought of as a trophy and more a fish that should be cheerished. I have caught many FL Strain LMB over 18 heck over 20'' even but smallies are rare to come by. I didnt think much about them until this thread even the one I caught Sunday was just a nice fish to me but now it means a little more. I think better conservation, protection and management really is needed for this special fish, just my opinion after reading all these post.

Chris here is the really cool thing. Using google earth and my waypoints I have been able to mark out tons of spots that will never show on any lake map. For instance I have on little boulder its only 5sq ft of mass and 10inches tall but when the waters right and time is right I have pulled as many as 20 walleye off it, another is a stump only one in the area and its a big one, it almost always produces a catfish. Those simple little things mean a lot to fish and because of that mean a lot to me I have a google earth picture that looks like it has the worse case of chickenpox lol. I use landmarks and then the measure tool from google to almost exactly plot those spots. A long way from old topo charts and guess a spot. Im working on an article right now for the way I troll but might take a some time, but ill post it when i get done.

Yes I can on both my 7 and 5 with no problem. set your setting back to the old black n white ( original lowrance ) look and its very sweet.

I use down imaging all the time from sitting still to drifting and have no issues at all. kinda fun watching a fish come up and take your bait.

That is the simple explanation. its helped me put more fish on the boat but takes time getting use to doing it but when you do it will put more on the line.

Chris, In all honesty my sonar when im under 15ft is used for a dual purpose and never for marking fish. The first thing I do is start out deep 30+ fow and side scan an entire area that could be as much as 5 miles long ( im pulling lures just in case of a striper ) but the primary reason is to mark on the map where stumps are or boulders basically any hump. Then I will review the marks over the contour map and see where they are concentrated. I am looking for a 2 to 4 foot range so I can cover the most of them as possible. Then i simply set the boat on that path with sonar on and waypoints markes. I dont care about seeing fish im trolling very specific things where fish should be. One long points I will work up one side and take it out to 30fow and then turn back in and run the other side trying to maximize my chances. If I hit a walleye or other species im wanting i immidiately waypoint mark it and make another 4 passes if I catch another fish its waypointed agan. 2 fish in 4 passes stops the boat and out comes the Keitechs and i work the area very carefully between the two waypoints. That is the simple secret to how i catch so many fish is by marking them on the map then mythodically taking the area apart. Ask WC he has seen me sit on a spot for hours picking it apart

Dam Chris, you got it bad to go out on a day like this especially if your going to Rocky Branch. Good luck and be safe. I cant wait for next weekend looks like we have steady temps persay for the next 5 days so it shoudl really turn things on.

22 1/4L x 16 1/2 g

But here is what people forget, ALL those you list is a sport and/or Privledge. The right to keep arms is a RIGHT guaranteed by the Constituion. You can argue all you want but its right there in that pesky Constitution under Amendment #2.

19'' long and a girth of 17''. most of the ones i caught yesterday were all nice like that im betting tourney guys would love to catch a limit of those if I had to guess based off length x girth my best 5 were 19 x 17 6.00 18.75 x 16.25 5.60 16.50 x 15.00 4.00 16. 50 x 15.00 4.00 16.25 x 14.75 3.81 which should be right around 23.41 some check my math its been a while since i did Bass

Chris, I have all sizes of flicker shad, yesterday the fish were in a specific depth so I was using the #6 yesterday. The bigger ones dive to deep and hit the bottom much harder in the shallows. The depth chart Berkley put out is a generalization but not the rule. I use a 7'6'' St Croix PS76MLF with a Shimano Stradic 4000 spooled with Seaguar 10lb Fluorocarbon with that set up trolling at 2.1 mph the #6 ticks the bottom in 16fow 100ft back, same set-up the #9 ticks bottm in 23fow. The one thing I like about the Flicker shad over other brands is ai can sweep a point in a hard turn with the boat and they dont loose contact with the bottom which really increases strikes and the hooks are extremely sharp. I sure would not take off work today to try it with winds howling like this, yesterday was bad enough, today is far worse. Doc, we will deffinately hook up and get you on some stipers and I do enjoy teaching people to throw a castnet. You liked them fat little kentucks lol.

Started out at 9:00am from Prarie Creek. Shad are thick in the marina and easily found follow the birds, they are only 1 to 3 inches at most but do have a few fish on them. I followed a few birds to the 12 bridge area and found more shad in the same size but was able to find a few of the 4 to 6 inch size shad that translated into 3 stripers in the 20lb class. I wasnt looking for stripers today it was a Walleye and Crappie day for some food. I hit Montne area and nothing decent so I ran to Rocky Branch. There had been reports of crappie and walleye in the area so I started trolling flicker shad and was not disappointed, Ended up with 15 walleye from 15 to 25 inches and some of the best smallmouth fishing i have had in a long time they ran from 15inches to 19 inches . All the fish came out of 12 to 15 fow on long points. Only snapped a couple pictures boat control in todays wind was a pain in the rear end. If the weather will stay steady for a couple weeks we could see a great bite develope for multiple species. No crappie today but there is always next time. This is the 19'' smallie

Mitch, I have just got to the point I tell people this... Read Heller and Miller... One of these stupid democrats is going to get one of the laws past and the NRA is just waiting for it and will push it to SCOTUS on those two and then we will probably see most if not all civillian restrictions removed. Probably not in a few big cities as they are still not in compliance with SCOTUS rulings from the past though... I would ask you to guess which ones but I know you already know which cities.

Screw AQ go to Montne Chicken House, of course you need to hit Crystal Bridges as well, Cabelas is open for the guys.

In some states these politards might get voted back in but in many more they will be fired.

Its images like those that make me want to side scan them with someone over the top for a almost 3d look at it. Cool imagery. to think i remember flashers.

Take her to it. you wont be sorry, I love the atmospher it has a bar but its not a bar for some reason it feels like a sit down to eat with a large family. Just something about the place makes it fun.